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If you’re looking for one or two stats that ultimately make a football team sink or swim, it’s turnovers and sacks allowed.

The cream of the CFL crop this season doesn’t turn the ball over, nor does it allow sacks. The bottom feeders do both, and they do it a lot. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have turned the ball over the most, and they have allowed the second most sacks.

That’s why they’re 2-11 and about to stretch their Grey Cup drought to an amazing 23 seasons.

It looks like turnovers will be the theme in Bomberville this week, and rightly so. They forked it over to the B.C. Lions a season-high seven times on Friday night, and the Leos transformed those presents into a whopping 34 points en route to a 53-17 demolition of the Blue and Gold.

The Bombers have committed a league-high 49 turnovers, including 22 interceptions and 19 fumbles. They have forced only 23 turnovers themselves, leaving them with a league-worst turnover ratio of minus-26. The Tiger-Cats are the next worst squad, and they’re only minus-13.

“We’ve gotta eliminate the turnovers,” head coach Tim Burke said on Monday. “That’s what killing us.”

Burke knows of what he speaks. The Blue and Gold have lost the turnover battle in 11 of their 13 games. The won one and tied the other. They are 1-10 when committing more turnovers than the opposition.

Friday night was a perfect exhibit about how to lose a football game through turnovers. The Lions defence scored three touchdowns in the first half off two fumbles and an 80-yard interception return.

They ended up committing three more fumbles or interceptions and then added a turnover on downs for good measure at the end of the game, marking the first time since last October that they coughed up the ball seven times in one contest.

“It’s just lack of execution, number one,” Burke said. “One of the fumbles we had is not putting the ball away high and tight. The guy who fumbled it (Akeem Foster) has only been with us for two weeks, so I don’t know if they worked on that on the other team. We work it really hard and we haven’t had tons of fumbles. Most of our problems have been intercepts.”

Burke isn’t quite right in that assessment. The Bombers have thrown 22 interceptions and have committed 19 fumbles. They are on pace to lose 26 fumbles, which would be the most since 1999. They aren’t close to setting the record for most interceptions in a season.

All told, the Bombers are on pace to commit a whopping 68 turnovers, which would tie for the fifth most in franchise history. And if those players don’t eliminate the turnovers, they will be part of a different kind of turnover this off-season.

LATE HITS

Max Hall will start at quarterback on Saturday in Calgary. “We moved the ball with Max the best,” Burke said. “We’re just trying to eliminate his mistakes.” … Dan Knapp (head) will miss the game, and Steve Morley (knee) is expected to replace him at right guard … Slotback Cory Watson (hamstring) should also return to the lineup … There’s chance new running back/returner Bradley Randle could play on Saturday.

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Winnipeg Blue Bombers are turnover machines

If you’re looking for one or two stats that ultimately make a football team sink or swim, it’s turnovers and sacks allowed.

The cream of the CFL crop this season doesn’t turn the ball over, nor does it allow sacks. The bottom feeders do both, and they do it a lot. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have turned the ball over the most, and they have allowed the second most sacks.

That’s why they’re 2-11 and about to stretch their Grey Cup drought to an amazing 23 seasons.

It looks like turnovers will be the theme in Bomberville this week, and rightly so. They forked it over to the B.C. Lions a season-high seven times on Friday night, and the Leos transformed those presents into a whopping 34 points en route to a 53-17 demolition of the Blue and Gold.

The Bombers have committed a league-high 49 turnovers, including 22 interceptions and 19 fumbles. They have forced only 23 turnovers themselves, leaving them with a league-worst turnover ratio of minus-26. The Tiger-Cats ar